The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus, a method for operating an endoscope apparatus, an information storage device, and the like.
The main object of an electronic endoscope apparatus is an in vivo image, and external light does not reach the inside of the body. Therefore, it is necessary to apply illumination light to the object from the endoscope apparatus when acquiring a captured image using the endoscope apparatus. It is necessary to apply illumination light so that the observation area is captured at the correct exposure in order to improve the visibility of the captured image acquired by applying illumination light.
For example, JP-A-62-161004 discloses a method that ensures that the object is captured at the correct exposure. The method disclosed in JP-A-62-161004 detects distance data relating to the distance between the photoelectric sensor and the object, and controls the illumination intensity and the illumination direction of illumination light based on the distance data so that the object can always be observed under optimum illumination conditions.
JP-A-62-161004 mainly aims to implement pattern recognition of parts using a robot. On the other hand, the main object of endoscopic observation is to detect a lesion area. Specifically, endoscopic observation does not search an obvious object, differing from pattern matching. Therefore, since the object is the entire captured image, the entire image must be uniformly illuminated instead of optimizing the illumination conditions at one point within the image.